FARMERS CONSTRAINTS TO QUALITY PROTEIN MAIZE (QPM) ADOPTION IN KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA.

Kanai, E. T¹; Makarau, S. B.²; Garba, A. O²_;Wamagi, I. T.¹and Haruna, S¹

¹School of Agricultural Technology, Nuhu Bamali Polytechnic Zaria, Samaru Kataf Campus

²Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, Kaduna State University (KASU) Kaduna State, Nigeria.

Email: zimaiyet@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The study analyzed farmers’ constraints toQuality Protein Maize (QPM)adoption in Kaduna State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling technique was used in collecting primary data on 380 respondents from four Agricultural Zones using structured questionnaire through survey. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings revealed that 67.63% were males with 81.84% married with an average household size of 8 people constituting 72.40%.  Majority (63.40%) of the respondents were primarily farmers by occupation with 66.84% having a mean quality protein maize farming experience of 19 years cultivating a mean farm size of 2 hectares.  About 60% acquired their farmland through inheritance and 79% attained one form of formal education or the other.  The result also revealed that 98.95% and 92.38% of the respondentssourced labour from cooperative (Gaiya) and family respectively while 53.16% had access to credit facilities with 96.05% having accessed credit facilities from relatives.  92.63% had access to extension services and all (100.00%) were aware of quality protein maize and attested to obtaining information on quality protein maize from extension agents accounting for 59%.  About 79% of the respondent confirmed being members of cooperative associations. Result of constraints faced by the respondents revealed that 81.84% of the respondents experienced constraints to Quality Protein Maize (QPM) adoption and the most severe constraints were high labour demand and unfavourable weather condition ( = 3.31) respectively, prevalence of pests and dieases ( = 3.14) and high inputs demand (  = 3.12). It was concluded that majority of the responded attested to facing constraints to the adoption of the QPM variety and the most severe constraints were high labour demand, unfavourable weather condition, prevalence of pests and dieases and non-availability of credit. The researchers recommended that farmers should be encouraged to organize themselves into viable cooperative associations, information on weather conditions should be made available to farmers and adoption of QPM should be encouraged among farmers given its’ nutrition and economic values as the readily available and cheap alternative protein source compared to other sources.

Keywords: Quality ProteinMaize, Adoption, KadunaState, Nigeria

SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF‘BANK OF AGRICULTURE’AND SUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT IN BORNO STATE OF NIGERIA

Uba, Isaac Andiyawa,& Ibrahim AhmedJajereDepartment of Geography

Federal University Gashua, Yobe State, Nigeria,

E-mail: isaacandiyawa@gmail.com, iajajere2000@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Bank of Agriculture (BOA), established in the year 2000, stands the largest rural development finance institutions in Nigeria. Empowering the less privileged groups is the priority objective of the micro credit scheme of the BOA.This paper therefore, examines the spatial distribution of the BOAandthe adverse effects on sustainable rural development in Borno State.Borno State has twenty seven Local Government Areas (LGAs)but because of security threat in the state, the study was delimited to only ten out of sixteenLGAsfound served by the BOA.Informationon BOA branch locations and data on borrowers’status were primarily obtained through interview with the BOA officials and questionnaire administration on the micro credit beneficiaries respectively. Data on the LGAs served and spatial outreachof the micro credit were secondarily extracted from official documents of the BOA.164 respondents were purposively sampled out ofthe total 1099 borrowers in the study area. Analytical tables and a descriptive map were used to expound the data. The findings revealed that BOA branches location and spatial outreachacross the three Borno Senatorial Zones is biased towards Borno South and Central and neglectedthe North. Italso revealed that social impediments constituted the major problem of the less privileged groups, andthe implication ofneglecting such huge socially impeded groups is its related torestive and strife prone zones in the state. The significance is that neglecting the socially impeded groups is related to security threat in the state. Recommendations are made for extension of more BOA branches toBorno North Senatorial Zone andother studies toexamine the spatial distributionof other rural development programmes in the state toenable generalization about negligence in spatial distribution of rural development inputs and societal restiveness and strife.

Keywords:BOA, SpatialDistribution, Biased, Negligence, Less-privileged, Strife.